Nanny Taxes Identity Theft – Locking it Down!

Protecting Employee Personally Identifiable Information

Household employers have legitimate needs to collect and maintain their household employee’s confidential data.  All employers, and their agents, are legally responsible to protect this information and prevent its access by unauthorized individuals.

Identity theft is growing at an enormous rate, both in the US and abroad. The lives of victims of identity theft are impacted in a devastating way.  By the time we realize our identity has been stolen, by a notification from a credit agency and/or law enforcement, some damage has been already done.  This crime is often discovered too late, and correcting credit bureau records is a daunting task.

Homeland Security, the IRS, SSA, the United Postal Services and many other Federal Agencies are conducting public outreach programs to communicate to employers their legal obligations to protect their employee’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII).  This applies to Household Employment as well.

Federal and State employment laws require employers to collect a large volume of personal information, such as First, Middle and Last Name, SSN, address, driver’s license, bank account numbers, date of birth, etc.  in order to comply with legally required reporting. Pre-employment background screening, a best practice in household employment, also involves the collection of employee PII. Employers must absolutely ensure the security of PII and collect only information that is absolutely necessary for the employment on-boarding and tax reporting functions.

HomeWork Solutions has in place several security procedures to protect our clients’ and their employee’s information:

• HomeWork Solution’s servers are penetration tested by a trusted 3rd party, Security Metrics, every quarter.

• Our office is physically secured, and only authorized staff is permitted in areas where client and employee’s PII is stored.

• We background check all of our employees, and are bonded.

• We coach our staff in telephone and email procedures to maintain client and employee PII security.

• HWS’ premium service clients have many payroll and tax documents, including employee W-2 forms, delivered electronically to their personal e-Filing Cabinet.

• Clients who want to make their information available to a 3rd party such as their accountant/CPA must provide HWS written authorization.

• We offer a secure website and absolute confidentiality to our clients.

We encourage clients to take a moment to review how you maintain your employee’s Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in your home. 

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